The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1887-12-20
GREAT LOSS OF LIFE.
Millions of People Starving and Homeless


in China.
SAN Francisco, December 18-News has
reached here from China of the disaster occa-
stoned by the Yellow river OVERLOOKING its
banks in the province of Ho-Nan. 1t is de-
scribed as one of the. most appalling occur
rences in loss of life and property recorded in
recent times.
The river broke its banks on the evening of
September 2Sth, southwest of the city of Chin
Choo, and not only completely inundated that
city, but also ten other populous Cities The
whole area IS now raging sea ten to thirty
feet deep, where it was once a densely popu-
lated and rich plain.
The former bed of the Yellow river is now
dry, and the present lake was the bed of the
river centuries ago.
The loss of life is incalculable, and the state
ment is made by missionaries that millions of
Chinese are homeless and starving. Thomas
Patton, one of the American missionaries, writ
ing from No-Nan province, under date of Oc-
tober 2Sth, says:
"The newly gathered crops, houses and trees
are all swept away, involving fearful loss Of
life. The country was covered with fine
winter braid, which is gone, and implies COM
plete destruction to next years crop. Bread,
bread is the cry of thousands, who are on the
river bank. Benevolent people go in boats
and throw bread among the masses here and
there, but it is nothing compared with the re-
quirementS. The mass of people is still being
increased by continual arrivals even more hum
cry than the last. There they sit, stunned,
hungry and detected, without rag to wear or
morsel of food. Mud huts are being erected
for them What it will be in two months L
can not conceive. The misery is increasing,
owing to the bitter cold weather"
Yellow river has long been known as
"China's Sorrow" and the present disaster
has served to reassert its right to the terrible
title, AS yet details of the disaster are very
meager. 1t has occurred in district where
but few foreigners are, and the reports furnish
ed by the officials and published i'll the Pekin
Gazette convey very inadequate account of
the extent Of the loss Of life and property and
the sufferings of the survivors
The governor i'll Holman reports to the
throne that 'nearly all the people have been
drowned in the district reached by the water,
the survivors being those who escaped to the
high grounds or took refuge in trees, where
they remained till they were rescued"
This gives but little impression as to what
the extent of the disaster really is
The Chinese Times states that in the prov
ince Of Chilli, where disastrous inundations
have also occurred, there are 270,000ipeople
homeless, representing those whose lives were
destroyed. and adds that the misery in that
province is tritling @as compared with that
caused by Hoang-Ho, or the Yellow river.
The extent of ground swept over by
THE OVERWHELMING FLOOD,
given in English figures, is over seven thou
sand square miles, and land thus submerged
formed a part of one Of the richest and most
densely populated plains Of northern China
The necessity for liberal aid may therefore be
imagined Already considerable sums have
been contributed toward the relief OF suffer-
ers. The emperor OF China has given 2,000,-
600 taels, and the Chinese have started a sub
scripton list in Shanghai, to which foreigners
have literally contributed.
Millions have been rendered homeless and
entirely deprived Of all chances Of earning
their Livelihood, for their fields will either be-
come permanent lakes or uninhabitable
swamps. 1t is feared that the distress which
will be felt during the coming winter will
equal in intensity the famine OF ten years ago,
when charitable donations contributed from
all parts Of the world were utterly inadequate.
1t IS stated that owing to the action taken by
the Yellow river il no longer flows toward the
sea- but seems content in converting eastern
Ho-Nan and northern Nganwhui into lake.
it may ultimately flow into the sea through
the lIiargon, or it may possibly join the
Iin ,,eZe.
Hoang-ffo, the "Ycllow River" SO named
from the color which the yellow clay along its
banks gives to its waters, is one OF the princi-
pal rivers OF the Chinese empire 1t rises in
the koho-Nor territory, in Tibet near lati-
tudc - north, flows northeastWard into Mon
goia, re-entors China proper, and after abrupt
bends southwark and eastward enters the Gulf
OF Pe-Chee-Leo, after total course estimated
at 300 miles. On its banks are many cities OF
first and second rank, the principal being Lon
ChOo and Kai-FoDg, respectively the capitals
Of the provinces OF kan-SCO and Ho-Nan, Pre-
vious to 1853 Il entered the Yellow sea by a
mouth some hundreds OF miles south OF it's
present one. The stream Is 50 turbulent and
impetuous that it is scarcely adapted to Chi
nese navigation, and its frequent overflow Is
the cause Of much destruction; hence the
river las been called China Sorrow Chic
Choo is in the province Of Ho-Nan, eighty
miles south OF Kai-Fong.